GH2 Complete Noob GH2 Question

B

BennyWhiskers

Active member
Having already bricked a GH1, I was hesitant to get another DSLR that requires a hack. Then I saw the latest GH2 hacks and realize that this camera is now at the top of the pile by far.

Here's my idiotic question:
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The GH1's supposedly could only be hacked if they were made before a certain date cause the newer models had firmware installed that prevented the hack. That being said, does this bode for the GH2 as well? I plan on buying one off of Amazon or BH and would feel somewhat like a fool if I couldn't hacks it..
 
Hey,

that was once the issue but got resolved with a newer version of ptool. No such problem on the GH2 so far!
 
You really don't even need to hack the gh2, it produces beautiful footage right out of the box. Now if your a pixel peeper, where you do test after test, then stare at your monitor for hrs on end looking for flaws, then I would say yeah, go ahead and hack it,. But i'm willing to bet 99.9% of the people who will watch a film will never see the difference between a hacked and non hacked gh2.

People become obsessed with the perfect image, and therefore never get around to filming anything because they always find a reason to wait due to this issue or that issue within the cam. Like I said before, audience members don't notice the tiny little imperfections a pixel peeper does.

With that said, the gh2 is a great little cam, especially for the price point, you can use beautiful canon fd glass on it, which to me is the best combo for the gh2. Enjoy your new cam:)
 
The hack is worth it. There is a noticeable improvement in latitude, detail in the shadows, and motion is improved with the low GOP hacks. If you're not color correcting then you'll be extremely happy with the stock codec, but for important projects it makes a big difference. The ability to switch back and forth between firmwares depending on the shooting situation is a huge boon too.
 
maranfilms said:
You really don't even need to hack the gh2, it produces beautiful footage right out of the box. Now if your a pixel peeper, where you do test after test, then stare at your monitor for hrs on end looking for flaws, then I would say yeah, go ahead and hack it,. But i'm willing to bet 99.9% of the people who will watch a film will never see the difference between a hacked and non hacked gh2.

People become obsessed with the perfect image, and therefore never get around to filming anything because they always find a reason to wait due to this issue or that issue within the cam. Like I said before, audience members don't notice the tiny little imperfections a pixel peeper does.

With that said, the gh2 is a great little cam, especially for the price point, you can use beautiful canon fd glass on it, which to me is the best combo for the gh2. Enjoy your new cam:)
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Amen to this.
 
Fixing a bricked GH1.

Fixing a bricked GH1.

BennyWhiskers said:
I wonder if I could fix my gh1 or if it's just broke forever :/
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If you can upload any firmware version than it can be fixed.
If it powers up with some message that you can't get rid of, then fixing it requires a motherboard replacement.
May not be worth the cost.

Good luck.
 
maranfilms said:
You really don't even need to hack the gh2, it produces beautiful footage right out of the box. Now if your a pixel peeper, where you do test after test, then stare at your monitor for hrs on end looking for flaws, then I would say yeah, go ahead and hack it,. But i'm willing to bet 99.9% of the people who will watch a film will never see the difference between a hacked and non hacked gh2.

People become obsessed with the perfect image, and therefore never get around to filming anything because they always find a reason to wait due to this issue or that issue within the cam. Like I said before, audience members don't notice the tiny little imperfections a pixel peeper does.

With that said, the gh2 is a great little cam, especially for the price point, you can use beautiful canon fd glass on it, which to me is the best combo for the gh2. Enjoy your new cam:)
Click to expand...

I too vote for no hack needed to produce great video with the GH2.
 
You can hack the cam, so far, with any firmware.

I don't see a reason not to hack, free image upgrade? Well mostly free. Nothing a few 30 dollar cards can't handle.

And it's not like you can't go right back.

Pixel peeping got our digital world to where it is now. Remember that. And let me know when you go back to shooting SD. Sense the audience doesn't care.
 
Pixel peeping got our digital world to where it is now.
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This I agree with.

And let me know when you go back to shooting SD. Sense the audience doesn't care.
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I think you misunderstood my post:) I'm not saying the audience wouldn't notice a difference between sd and hd. I'm just saying the average audience wouldn't notice the difference between a hacked and non hacked gh2. It's a cold day in hell before I go back to shooting SD. :)

I also agree you might as well hack it, but the op said he was nervous about hacking as he's already bricked a gh1, I was only stating for piece of mind that the gh2 shoots beautiful without the hack, so if he doesn't want to risk it, it's still abale to capture great footage.
 
maranfilms said:
This I agree with.


I think you misunderstood my post:) I'm not saying the audience wouldn't notice a difference between sd and hd. I'm just saying the average audience wouldn't notice the difference between a hacked and non hacked gh2. It's a cold day in hell before I go back to shooting SD. :)

I also agree you might as well hack it, but the op said he was nervous about hacking as he's already bricked a gh1, I was only stating for piece of mind that the gh2 shoots beautiful without the hack, so if he doesn't want to risk it, it's still abale to capture great footage.
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Admittedly, I get prematurely irritated when people sort of down the pixel peeping stuff. It really is why the GH2 has such great video.

I do think the hack has a ton of advantages, and it's stable so it's almost like why cheat yourself out of extra horsepower if it doesn't cost more than a small donation and an upgrade in cheap SDHC media?

Of course, you're right about GH2 being able to produce without it: the original GH2 footage was pretty insane looking. Absolutely a leap up from GH1.
 
Hi guys, I also have some noob questions, if you don`t mind :)
I`ve noticed that videos shot with Helios-44 lens look much sharper (especially in corners) with wide open aperture than stills (in manual stills mode) at JPEG maximum quality. Is it because of the smaller resolution of the video?
Can I set the EVF to behave in stills mode in the same way as in the movie mode? By that I mean, I would really prefer a darker image (like in movie mode) in EVF, than brighter and slower (as it is now in stills mode) for low-light situations.

Thanks in advance.
 
This is entirely speculation but I think Panasonic's attitude toward the hack has changed since the GH1.
I like to believe they have realized the value and attention that hacking the GH series has brought to the line.

It also puts them in an advantageous position of being able to get the credit for the high quality specs, without having to actually provide support for it in that range of extreme use.

I'm hoping Panasonic will continue to peacefully coexist with the hack and VK.
 
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